Chicken Sofrito

For her sublime version of everyday chicken and rice, Kiesel coats chicken legs in chili powder and cooks rice with sofrito, a Spanish mixture of chopped onion, garlic, and bell pepper. She bakes everything together in a skillet so that the delectable chicken juices flavor the rice, then broils the dish at the last minute to turn the chicken skin enticingly brown.

Total Time: 1:15

Cook: 0:25

Level:
Easy

Serves:
4

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Ingredients

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

4 whole chicken legs

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

0.50 tsp. chili powder

1 medium onion

3 clove garlic

1 jalapeño

2 large thyme sprigs

1 red bell pepper

Rounded 1/4 teaspoon anise seeds

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 c. chopped canned tomatoes

3 c. chicken stock or low-sodium broth

1 c. short-grain white rice

2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

0.50 c. roasted almonds

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large ovenproof skillet, heat vegetable oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper and dust lightly with chili powder. Add chicken to skillet and cook over moderate heat until well browned, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

Add onion, garlic, jalapeño, and thyme sprigs to skillet and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 8 minutes. Add bell pepper, anise seeds, cayenne, and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, raise heat to high, and cook until bubbling. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Stir in rice and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a simmer. Arrange chicken pieces on rice, skin side up. Bake in upper third of oven about 25 minutes, until chicken is just cooked through and rice is tender and has absorbed stock.